Chris Porter Re-signs, TJ Oshie's Arbitration Hearing On Friday.

By Tony Moreno

The St. Louis Blues made a good depth signing by locking up Chris Porter for another year at $650,000 with a 2-way contract. At 28, Porter played in 47 games with the Blues and collected 4 goals and 3 assists while playing most of his time on the 4th line. Porter’s new deal gives him a chance to fight for a permanent spot with the Blues come training camp and should also add some depth and grit on the 4th line. The Blues made other signings for the Peoria Rivermen in which they also resigned Anthony Peluso and Brett Sonne.

As for other news, the members of the Blues staff are heading out to Toronto to get ready for TJ Oshie’s arbitration hearing on Friday. If Oshie goes to Arbitration, he can only be signed for 1 or 2 years, but there is still a small chance the Blues can still resign Oshie without going into arbitration. With Andy McDonald, Chris Stewart, Alex Pietrangelo, and Kevin Shattenkirk becoming free agents next season the Blues would like to not have to worry about resigning Oshie as well. The Blues have offered Oshie a similar contract in length as they did to David Perron, and this shows the Blues do want Oshie around for quite some time. However, many have been stating that David Backes cap hit of $4.5 million is the cap limit for any forward as of now. Does Oshie deserve more than Backes, who is a 2-time 30 goal scorer? Oshie has yet to hit the 20 goal mark in his 4 seasons with his Blues, and has only played in over 60 games just twice out of those 4 seasons. The real question should be whether or not Oshie deserves more than Perron. Even though Perron was plagued by injuries over the last 2 seasons, he was able to put up 21 goals in only 57 games this past season and had the best points per game ratio than any other player on the Blues. Perrons cap hit of $3.8 million really should be the bar for Oshie.

There is still a chance the Blues can come to an agreement with Oshie before Fridays hearing, which would be great considering that deal would be 4-5 years rather than only 1 or 2 years. The free agency market has not helped the Blues one bit with Oshie as GM’s are overpaying for players left and right. Oshie on the open market could easily get $4.5 million, but it is not what he should earn. What will Oshie receive from arbitration?